Volusia County Schools consider providing masks, adding social distancing markers when students return in fall

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Social distancing will be a big part of Volusia County School District’s reopening plan in August.

The county is considering providing washable masks and hand sanitizer, adding social distancing markers and not allowing students to share food when schools reopen in the fall.

Dorothy Farmer said she has mixed feelings on sending her children back.

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“Half of them are like, we are going to have to put them back in school because they can’t afford home school or private school, and the others are like we are going to make it work, them being at home, because we can’t put them back in the school,” she said.

Another issue is with school buses. While the school board did discuss using seating charts to help with contract tracing, there’s no plan yet on how they will socially distance children on a bus, which would require more buses and routes being added.

But extra drivers and buses are not something the district is flush with right now.

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Some school board members are pushing virtual learning as an alternative.

Online school enrollment has quadrupled from this time last year to nearly 600 students as there are still more questions than answers about how schools will work next year in the county.

The school board has a workshop July 15 to discuss its reopening plan further.

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